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Pyramid swindlers unmasked

Ponzi scams are being laid bare by the slump

On its website, Agape World claims: "We provide the bridge to your future." The New York lender specialising in short-term loans also claims to have been in business since 1999. The date must be wrong. At the end of the millennium founder Nicholas Cosmo of Long Island, New York, was serving 21 months in jail for mis-appropriating funds. Sadly it wasn't the only number Cosmo had wrong.

Last week the 37-year-old was arrested, accused of swindling investors out of $370m (£254m). Among his alleged victims were a group of disabled policemen and firemen, all lured in by the promise of sky-high returns. Many lost their life savings as Cosmo blew their cash on limousines, a baseball league and paying off fines from his earlier fraud.

As Cosmo was led off to court last week he was dubbed "the mini-Madoff". Like Bernie Madoff, the money manager accused of a $50 billion